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Let me switch gears for a minute here, for all of us whom believe that when we die, we don't really die, but that we have an immortal soul that floats up into heaven to be with the Lord if we are believers in him. It is interesting that Jesus himself states in John 8 that the devil, or Satan is a "liar and the father of lies". What was the very first thing that Satan said and lied about? Where would we find that? In Genesis 3, in the garden of course! And what does the liar and father of lies say to the woman? "You shall surely not die." And we have believed it ever since. In different manners and in different ways, the original lie of Satan still has its influence to this very day. How evil and genius is Satan, the god of this age (2 Cor. 4)?More than we are willing to admit, I'm afraid. So, who do you believe? God's word, or Satan?
I realize that many reading this, if you've even got this far
, are probably pulling out your hair and may be calling me a heretic. Please remember how I started this post in my first underlined sentence. We could go on and on about the natural constitution of man and his destiny (which is unconditional death), but we still have yet to answer the question. What does it mean to be "born again"?
We understand the phrase, to be "born again", from John 3. Most of us are very familiar with this passage of scripture. I'm going to now explain what I understand what Jesus is referring to in John chapter 3, and it may or may not give you different thoughts on the subject of being "born again". Please bear with me (again). And again, I'm being as brief as possible.
Nicodemus was no fool. He was a Pharisee, and the teacher of Israel. A ruler of the Jews. Why then does Jesus say, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not understand these things?” Why does Jesus reprimand Nicodemus for not understanding what he was being told? Many commentators will say that the teaching in John 3 is something new, a new revelation by Jesus. But is it? If it is, then how can Jesus reprimand him? The answer is that he couldn’t, and this teaching is something that Nicodemus should have understood, being THE teacher of Israel. The definite article in Greek before ‘teacher’ tells us that Nicodemus was indeed a very important man, a Pharisee and a ruler of the Jews in fact. And where would Jesus expect Nicodemus to go, to understand what he was saying? To the epistles of Paul? To the teachings of Peter or James or John? Of course not, for these men have not yet put the pen to paper! Where is the only place Nicodemus could have gone to understand that one must be born of WATER and SPIRIT to enter the KINGDOM OF GOD? The Hebrew scriptures, of course!
If this scenario of entrance into the Kingdom of God is not found anywhere in the Hebrew scriptures, then Nicodemus could say something to the effect of, ‘I don’t understand, Jesus, because it isn’t found anywhere in the scriptures.’ But it IS, and Nicodemus SHOULD have known it.
The key to understanding John 3, the location of Christianity’s most favorite verse that can be recited by young and old alike, probably even by many of those who don’t believe in Jesus the Son of God as the savior who died for our sins and rose again, is to understand to what Jesus was referring to in the Hebrew scriptures when speaking to Nicodemus. The ONLY place in the Hebrew scriptures that the formula of WATER, SPIRIT and KINGDOM and in that order can be found is… Ezekiel 36:22-37:28. And this prophecy by Ezekiel is concerning… THE DAVIDIC KINGDOM, the future Kingdom of God.
Ez. 37:24, “24 “My servant David (Jesus Christ) will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd; and they will walk in My ordinances and keep My statutes and observe them.” … and so on until the end of chapter 37. When will these things take place? At the resurrection! That is what it means to be born of water and spirit!
Of water: Ez. 36:25, “25 Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.” Of spirit: Ez. 37:5-9, 5 Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones, ‘Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life. 6 I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will know that I am the LORD.’” 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 And I looked, and behold, sinews were on them, and flesh grew and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them.
9 Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they come to life.” (Hmmm, sounds a lot like John 3:8, doesn't it -- "wind=spirit=breath" same word in Greek pneuma, as in 'pneumatic' in English, the movement of air..)
And again in verses 13-14, “13 Then you will know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people. 14 I will put My spirit (same word in Hebrew 'ruach' as breath - same word as in vs.5-9... just like it is in Greek) within you and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken and done it,” declares the LORD.’”
'Breath’ and ‘Spirit’ are the same word in both Greek and Hebrew. It’s probably even indicated in the footnotes at the bottom of the page of your bible. One must be born of water and spirit to enter into the Kingdom of God!
It is a water/spirit event. One preposition governs both nouns, in that I mean that it does not say “of water and of the spirit” (as it does incorrectly in the KJV), but that it says in the Greek and other English versions, correctly, “of water and the spirit” or “of water and spirit”. John 3, the discourse between Jesus and Nicodemus, is about resurrection, and Nicodemus should have known it, (hence the reprimand), especially since the reference Jesus was making was to such a prominent part of the scriptures, on dealing with the New Covenant as we see at the end of chapter 37 of Ezekiel, “26 I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will place them and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary in their midst forever. 27 My dwelling place also will be with them; and I will be their God, and they will be My people. 28 And the nations will know that I am the LORD who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forever.”’”
What then does it mean to be “born again” in this context! The Greek work ‘anothen’ can be correctly translated as ‘again’ or ‘above’. Let me share with you why I am inclined to say that it should be correctly translated as ‘above’ rather than ‘again’. Firstly, and most simply, God is doing this to the whole house of Israel, to vindicate his holy name (Ez. 36). And where is he doing this from? Well, he’s doing this from above. It is an adverb of place, not of time. Nicodemus was thinking incorrectly when he perceived Jesus as meaning ‘again’, thinking a man had to enter the womb a second time. We know that’s not correct. Also, consider how the same word, ‘anothen’, is used in every other instance in the gospel of John (since the apostle is the user of the word). Later in verse 31 of chapter 3: 31 , “He who comes from above is above all, he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.“ Above, not again. And also John 19:11, “11 Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above;… Also in John 19:23, “23 Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His outer garments and made four parts, a part to every soldier and also the tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece.” In this example, ‘anothen’ is translated ‘outer’, designating “outer garments” (the garments that are above the rest of the clothing), not the ‘again garments’! That is every other instance the term is used in the gospel of John. It is more consistent and logical to have translated it ‘above’ throughout the Nicodemus conversation as well.
The only thing different, or new, that Jesus was saying in this discourse, is that he was now equating being born of water and of spirit with being “born from above”, and Nicodemus did not put that together. The phrase, “born from above”, is not found in the Hebrew scriptures. Being “born from above”, means we are resurrected.
Still not convinced? What does John chapter 3 immediately follow? John chapter 2, of course. And what just happened in John 2? You will remember that Jesus cleansed the temple. And this of course angered the Jews who asked him, 'by what authority do you do these things'? 2:19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” 21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body. 22 So when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken.
The immediate previous context of John 3 has to do with resurrection, from death to life, in John 2. There is no other explanation for what being "born again" or "born from above" means.
Lastly, (and finally), let me give you one more thing to think about. One verse we seem to just read right over in the John 3 discourse is this: 3:14 "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up". It is important to realize that what Jesus is referring to here is that all important passage in Number 21:5 and following:
"The people spoke against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this miserable food.” 6 The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. 7 So the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and you; intercede with the Lord, that He may remove the serpents from us.” And Moses interceded for the people. 8 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live.” 9 And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived."
What is Jesus equating being "born again/above" with when he quotes Numbers 21? It is, quite simply - Death to Life. If you were bitten by a fiery serpent, what would happen? You were sure to die. What must you have done to live? Look at the object that got had provided for life, so that you would not die. The same is true for Jesus Christ. YOU AND I ARE DYING. And the only hope we have is to look at the object that God has provided for salvation, Jesus Christ.
No one is 'Born Again' or more accurately, "born from above", until the resurrection. This will happen at the end of the age - the beginning of the next age, the inauguration of the Parousia of the Christs Kingdom. I did not continue to get on to the explanation of the present age and the age to come, or the promise of "zoe aionion" (eternal life), to properly understand the age to come. This post would be doubled in length. I think this is long enough now. Read the very last verse of the book of Daniel, to learn of the prophet Daniels future expectation, and when it was that he would come back to life (and we whom believe as well).
God bless you all - and again, sorry for this ridiculously long post. I'm sure this will get plenty of response, but don't expect that I will be able to be as long winded in my responses. I started this 5 hours ago!
I realize that many reading this, if you've even got this far
, are probably pulling out your hair and may be calling me a heretic. Please remember how I started this post in my first underlined sentence. We could go on and on about the natural constitution of man and his destiny (which is unconditional death), but we still have yet to answer the question. What does it mean to be "born again"?We understand the phrase, to be "born again", from John 3. Most of us are very familiar with this passage of scripture. I'm going to now explain what I understand what Jesus is referring to in John chapter 3, and it may or may not give you different thoughts on the subject of being "born again". Please bear with me (again). And again, I'm being as brief as possible.
Nicodemus was no fool. He was a Pharisee, and the teacher of Israel. A ruler of the Jews. Why then does Jesus say, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not understand these things?” Why does Jesus reprimand Nicodemus for not understanding what he was being told? Many commentators will say that the teaching in John 3 is something new, a new revelation by Jesus. But is it? If it is, then how can Jesus reprimand him? The answer is that he couldn’t, and this teaching is something that Nicodemus should have understood, being THE teacher of Israel. The definite article in Greek before ‘teacher’ tells us that Nicodemus was indeed a very important man, a Pharisee and a ruler of the Jews in fact. And where would Jesus expect Nicodemus to go, to understand what he was saying? To the epistles of Paul? To the teachings of Peter or James or John? Of course not, for these men have not yet put the pen to paper! Where is the only place Nicodemus could have gone to understand that one must be born of WATER and SPIRIT to enter the KINGDOM OF GOD? The Hebrew scriptures, of course!
If this scenario of entrance into the Kingdom of God is not found anywhere in the Hebrew scriptures, then Nicodemus could say something to the effect of, ‘I don’t understand, Jesus, because it isn’t found anywhere in the scriptures.’ But it IS, and Nicodemus SHOULD have known it.
The key to understanding John 3, the location of Christianity’s most favorite verse that can be recited by young and old alike, probably even by many of those who don’t believe in Jesus the Son of God as the savior who died for our sins and rose again, is to understand to what Jesus was referring to in the Hebrew scriptures when speaking to Nicodemus. The ONLY place in the Hebrew scriptures that the formula of WATER, SPIRIT and KINGDOM and in that order can be found is… Ezekiel 36:22-37:28. And this prophecy by Ezekiel is concerning… THE DAVIDIC KINGDOM, the future Kingdom of God.
Ez. 37:24, “24 “My servant David (Jesus Christ) will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd; and they will walk in My ordinances and keep My statutes and observe them.” … and so on until the end of chapter 37. When will these things take place? At the resurrection! That is what it means to be born of water and spirit!
Of water: Ez. 36:25, “25 Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.” Of spirit: Ez. 37:5-9, 5 Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones, ‘Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life. 6 I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will know that I am the LORD.’” 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 And I looked, and behold, sinews were on them, and flesh grew and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them.
9 Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they come to life.” (Hmmm, sounds a lot like John 3:8, doesn't it -- "wind=spirit=breath" same word in Greek pneuma, as in 'pneumatic' in English, the movement of air..)
And again in verses 13-14, “13 Then you will know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people. 14 I will put My spirit (same word in Hebrew 'ruach' as breath - same word as in vs.5-9... just like it is in Greek) within you and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken and done it,” declares the LORD.’”
'Breath’ and ‘Spirit’ are the same word in both Greek and Hebrew. It’s probably even indicated in the footnotes at the bottom of the page of your bible. One must be born of water and spirit to enter into the Kingdom of God!
It is a water/spirit event. One preposition governs both nouns, in that I mean that it does not say “of water and of the spirit” (as it does incorrectly in the KJV), but that it says in the Greek and other English versions, correctly, “of water and the spirit” or “of water and spirit”. John 3, the discourse between Jesus and Nicodemus, is about resurrection, and Nicodemus should have known it, (hence the reprimand), especially since the reference Jesus was making was to such a prominent part of the scriptures, on dealing with the New Covenant as we see at the end of chapter 37 of Ezekiel, “26 I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will place them and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary in their midst forever. 27 My dwelling place also will be with them; and I will be their God, and they will be My people. 28 And the nations will know that I am the LORD who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forever.”’”
What then does it mean to be “born again” in this context! The Greek work ‘anothen’ can be correctly translated as ‘again’ or ‘above’. Let me share with you why I am inclined to say that it should be correctly translated as ‘above’ rather than ‘again’. Firstly, and most simply, God is doing this to the whole house of Israel, to vindicate his holy name (Ez. 36). And where is he doing this from? Well, he’s doing this from above. It is an adverb of place, not of time. Nicodemus was thinking incorrectly when he perceived Jesus as meaning ‘again’, thinking a man had to enter the womb a second time. We know that’s not correct. Also, consider how the same word, ‘anothen’, is used in every other instance in the gospel of John (since the apostle is the user of the word). Later in verse 31 of chapter 3: 31 , “He who comes from above is above all, he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.“ Above, not again. And also John 19:11, “11 Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above;… Also in John 19:23, “23 Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His outer garments and made four parts, a part to every soldier and also the tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece.” In this example, ‘anothen’ is translated ‘outer’, designating “outer garments” (the garments that are above the rest of the clothing), not the ‘again garments’! That is every other instance the term is used in the gospel of John. It is more consistent and logical to have translated it ‘above’ throughout the Nicodemus conversation as well.
The only thing different, or new, that Jesus was saying in this discourse, is that he was now equating being born of water and of spirit with being “born from above”, and Nicodemus did not put that together. The phrase, “born from above”, is not found in the Hebrew scriptures. Being “born from above”, means we are resurrected.
Still not convinced? What does John chapter 3 immediately follow? John chapter 2, of course. And what just happened in John 2? You will remember that Jesus cleansed the temple. And this of course angered the Jews who asked him, 'by what authority do you do these things'? 2:19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” 21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body. 22 So when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken.
The immediate previous context of John 3 has to do with resurrection, from death to life, in John 2. There is no other explanation for what being "born again" or "born from above" means.
Lastly, (and finally), let me give you one more thing to think about. One verse we seem to just read right over in the John 3 discourse is this: 3:14 "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up". It is important to realize that what Jesus is referring to here is that all important passage in Number 21:5 and following:
"The people spoke against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this miserable food.” 6 The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. 7 So the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and you; intercede with the Lord, that He may remove the serpents from us.” And Moses interceded for the people. 8 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live.” 9 And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived."
What is Jesus equating being "born again/above" with when he quotes Numbers 21? It is, quite simply - Death to Life. If you were bitten by a fiery serpent, what would happen? You were sure to die. What must you have done to live? Look at the object that got had provided for life, so that you would not die. The same is true for Jesus Christ. YOU AND I ARE DYING. And the only hope we have is to look at the object that God has provided for salvation, Jesus Christ.
No one is 'Born Again' or more accurately, "born from above", until the resurrection. This will happen at the end of the age - the beginning of the next age, the inauguration of the Parousia of the Christs Kingdom. I did not continue to get on to the explanation of the present age and the age to come, or the promise of "zoe aionion" (eternal life), to properly understand the age to come. This post would be doubled in length. I think this is long enough now. Read the very last verse of the book of Daniel, to learn of the prophet Daniels future expectation, and when it was that he would come back to life (and we whom believe as well).
God bless you all - and again, sorry for this ridiculously long post. I'm sure this will get plenty of response, but don't expect that I will be able to be as long winded in my responses. I started this 5 hours ago!
